Traveller receives prison sentence for breaching caravan ban on village land

07/07/2026

A traveller who set up an illegal camp site near a village in Stafford Borough has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Simon McDonagh had no planning permission to change the use of the agricultural fields into a traveller site.

Stafford Borough Council was granted an interim injunction to prevent McDonagh from continuing to develop the site and allowing more caravans on to the land at the rear of Stallington Road near Blythe Bridge.

Despite having first been issued with a 'Stop Notice' by the borough council, and then an interim injunction, a judge was told McDonagh continued bringing hardcore onto the land to further develop it into an unauthorised traveller site.

He was given a two-month prison sentence suspended for two years after pleading guilty to being in breach of the interim injunction when he appeared before the County Court in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, last month (June).

He admitted being in breach by:

• Bringing onto site multiple deliveries of hardcore and other materials between the 11 and 13 of September last year and
• On 13 September 2025 he was responsible for groundworks being carried out on the site

As a result of the proceedings, McDonagh was made to remove caravans, trailers and plant machinery from the land; remove a perimeter fence that had been erected; and take away the hardcore, pipes and septic tank from the site.

Council solicitor Lucy Taylor-Grime, said the local authority had received a number of complaints from residents about caravans moving onto the land as well as the fields being developed into an unauthorised site.

The injunction banning McDonagh from any unauthorised development of the site was also extended by the court and will remain in force until December 2031.

Press Release No 6308